I AM AN INFANT

Remember Individual Differences

During the first year,I will grow about 8-10 inches and triple my birth weight.

0-1 Months
    I like to be warm, eat, sleep, and have a lot of love and affection.
    I can see best at about 8 inches from my face. I like to hear people talk.
    I like to be held, cuddled, and rocked; it won't spoil me.
    I smile a 'pleasure' smile.

2-4 Months
    I love to watch faces, real ones, and pictures of ones.
    I like to coo when someone talks to me.
    I like being around people and smile at them.
    I know when I'm hot or cold, what tastes good to me or not.
    I stop and listen when I hear Mommy coming

4-6 Months
    I can reach out and touch what looks inviting to me.
    My hands are so fun to look at and play with they taste good, too.
    I like to taste everything that comes near enough, or that I can get into my mouth.
    I laugh when people pretend to scare me and play with me.

6-8 Months
    I can sit up, roll over, crawl, scoot, and drag my body.
    I love to be sung to and to play peek-a-boo.
    Sometimes I feel anxious when strangers come around.

8-12 Months
    I sometimes stand holding on and sometimes I may even pull up on furniture.
    I may cruise, toddle, or stand without holding on.
    Sometimes I wave bye-bye and can understand words that relate to my own experience.
    I like to look at myself in the mirror.

 


I AM A TODDLER

Remember Individual Differences

During the second year, I will grow about four inches and gain about three to five pounds.

12-18 Months

     I like to poke things into holes, stack things, and pour them out, especially when they make load         noises.

    I like to pinch and pat food, playdough, and other children.

    Playing with water makes me feel full of power and control.

    I know where my body parts are.

    I can turn pages in a book, scribble on paper, build a 3-4 block tower, and carry things
around.

    I know between 3 and 50 words, and can put two words together, but still babble with inflection and intonation.

18-24 Months

    I can walk up and down stairs, squat, run, stoop, and retrieve balls.

    I can put 2-3 words together and know more than 5O words.


I AM TWO

Remember there is a wide range of individual differences

Sometimes I suddenly want to sit on Mommy's or Daddy's lap and I want one of them where I can find them.

I like to push and pull objects, run and crawl, slide and climb, and discover all the things I can do.

I often ask why.

I am interested in the simple things that have to do with my care, such as washing and drying.

These tasks take me a long time, but I do not mind if I am not rushed and if I am given opportunity to do for myself as I can and, also, if I have a warm understanding adult close by to help me when I need it.
I like to play by myself a lot of the time and be around older people.

If other children have something I want, I will take it from them.

Sometimes I just like to stand by and watch other children play, but I don't want to play with them.

I like to take things apart and put things together or fit one object inside of another.

I want to have each day somewhat similar because then I feel secure to experiment and to play eagerly and freely.

I want to touch and manipulate toys as well as other children.

I like to ray no, because I hear it so much, even when I mean yes.

Sometimes, when I have an accident, I want my Mommy to understand and not to punish me for it.

I want to help Mommy do things and know she loves me and wants me to help her.

Sometimes when I am playing, I don't want to be interrupted.

I want to find out why things happen, such as where does my milk go when I pour it out on the Roar.

I need to know that people around me love and under. stand me.

I like stories and picture books about familiar people and happenings.

Sometimes, when I am hurt, I want someone to comfort me.

I AM THREE

Remember individual differences

I'm ME, and I want alot of people to love me.

There isn't anyone else just like me.

I want to be a three-year-old, when that's what I am, and not to behave like a five-year-old; but, if I act two-year-old sometimes, I want it to be all right.

I want to find out how things work, and if I break things when I am experimenting, I want someone understand.

I want to know that when I feel like being bad, I can be bad and still be loved.

I want to know all the funny things that happen in this world, like what happens to water when you pour it on the ground.

I want to run and climb and discover all the things I can do.

I want to know what makes little girls different from little boys.

I want my mommy to show me when she loves me; and, when she is made at me, I want to know it

I want to show my mommy when I am mad at her, and have her understand and not mind too much; I want to show her when I love her.

I want to have fun with children my own age: I want to fight with them, eat with them, mush in clay with
them and watch it ooze through everybody's fingers, I want to hit them when I am mad or when they don't do what I want, and most of the time I want to be with them.

Sometimes, I am very daughty and I want someone to help me stop being like that, because I don't know how to stop myself.

Sometimes, I don't even want to eat, and I hate it when someone tells me to.

Sometimes, I am scared of bees or sleeping or being left at the nursery by my mother. I need a lot of help then.

Sometimes, I have to kick someone's building down just to see what happens.

Sometimes, I am hurt and I want someone to comfort me. Then I need to know that people around me love me and understand. That makes me feel good, and when I feel good I can do lots of things and like lots of people.

 


I AM FOUR

Remember individual differences

I can balance on one foot for a second or two.

I can throw a ball overhand.

I like to swing.

I can button my clothes, but I need some help to start the zipper on my jacket.

I can lace my shoes, but not tie them yet.

I can build wonderful, complicated things with blocks.

I can stay interested in something for 10 to 15 minutes.

I can really wash my hands well and dry them.

I'm not anxious about going to school without mother now.

I like to play with my friends at school.

I can take turns.

Sometimes I can share with a friend.

I am often kind of bossy.

I like to talk about everything.

When I ask questions, mother can say 'What do you think?' and that makes me try to think for myself.

I sometimes embarrass mother by commenting on anything, anytime.

I can talk a little about how I feel, when I'm sad or when I'm happy.

I am explosive...like dynamite.

I am learning differences, like day and night, or light and dark, or slow and fast.

I can understand sizes of things like bigger and smaller.

I am beginning to understand more about time, like the parts of the day, morning and night, or days of the week, or tomorrow and yesterday.